False Teaching

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False Teaching

by Eddie Turner

Among its countless teachings of the right ways to live our lives as humans, the Bible makes a great effort to warn us about the wrong ways to behave. In these verses from the book of 1 Timothy, we are given two examples of false teachings that will be prominent among churches in the latter days.

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:1-5).

Since God has pointed out some specifics for us, I decided to do some checking up on these false teachings. After all, the Bible does say that they will occur "in the later times." Given the many prophecies concerning the end times that we have witnessed, I think we're there. For the record, I found the practice of abstaining from certain foods within a denomination very quickly. So, without revealing any names, I am going to show you several relevant statements as they appear within that denomination's summary of foundational beliefs. And I'll point out whether each statement is biblical or unbiblical.

“We do not earn our way to heaven by being vegetarians.” Biblical.

“Erroneous eating and drinking result in erroneous thinking and acting.” Biblical.

“It is God's direct instruction to all of us to eat a balanced and appropriate plant-based diet.” Unbiblical.

“The Lord counsels the church to discard meats, tea, coffee, and other harmful foods.” Unbiblical.

“God is trying to lead us back to His original design where man subsisted upon the natural products of the earth.” Unbiblical.

“This is a work that will have to be done before God's people can stand before Him.” Unbiblical.

You see the problem here, don’t you? This practice went from being a mere suggestion to a full-blown requirement for one's salvation. And coffee??? I think we should pause and pray for these deprived individuals right away! Because false teaching exists in so many varieties, each church it divides may be under the impression that only its members can be saved. After all, if what they do makes them right with God, those not doing it cannot be right. Right? Regarding the abstinence of certain foods, Jesus already set this record straight with the Pharisees.

“Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man” (Mark 7:18-20). Rituals like these may seem trivial to you and me, but

God takes them very seriously. Any church that adds to, takes away from, or weaves its way in and out of His Word to be seen as having completed works of merit will suffer

God's wrath. Moses' two nephews might have testified to this had they not been incinerated for their "special offering."

You can read their story in chapters 9 and 10 of Leviticus. Humans are incapable of doing anything worthy of salvation. A suggestion that a mere wiggle of one's little finger makes people more ripe for salvation completely strips Jesus of his divinity. Why? Because it makes him a liar. We're all expected to do good works; to behave in a manner that reflects our gratitude for his sacrifice. But those works are flawed because we are flawed. Even on our best days, our praises to God are marred by our selfcentered and unforgiving hearts. This is the human condition. We are to strive for goodness, but that bar is set way above our heads on purpose so that we will be completely reliant upon Jesus, who did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. In Christ alone means in Christ alone.

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

As we continue our daily walk with God, may He break our hearts for the misguided and use us to lead His precious children away from false teaching and into the everlasting arms of his son, Jesus Christ.

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